The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its final list of chemicals in the first group of substances that will be screened under the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP).1 Development of this list caps a long, thoughtful, and arduous administrative process that spans over a decade.

This “Washington Watch” column briefly reviews the development of the program, with emphasis on key elements of the current EDSP. The discussion also highlights the implications of the program for industry stakeholders.

Concerns About Potential Endocrine Disruptors

According to researchers, regulators, and other interested parties, a loosely defined class of substances referred to generally as “endocrine disruptors” are believed to interfere with the body’s endocrine system. Exposure to these substances under some circumstances is believed to result in adverse developmental, reproductive, neurological, and immune effects in both humans and wildlife.

Over the years, researchers have pointed to a growing list of anomalous health effects (including the feminization of certain male wild fish and male reproductive disorders in humans) that are believed to be attributable to endocrine disruptor substances.

Based on concern about the potential effects of exposure to endocrine disruptor substances, Congress included provisions in the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 and the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996 requiring EPA to identify, characterize, and regulate endocrine disrupting chemicals, as appropriate.

EDSTAC and Its Recommendations

To achieve this formidable Congressional goal, EPA first had to develop an appropriate conceptual approach for identifying and validating endocrine disrupting chemicals. As an initial step, the Agency established the Endocrine Disruptor Screening and Testing Advisory Committee (EDSTAC) in 1996.

EDSTAC, which consisted of representatives from diverse stakeholder groups, was charged with providing advice and recommendations to EPA regarding a strategy for determining whether chemical substances may have an effect on humans similar to effects produced by naturally occurring hormones.

EDSTAC began its deliberations in October 1996 and completed them in July 1998. The committee issued a final report on its findings on August 3, 1998.2 In its report, EDSTAC urged EPA to address endocrine effects; examine biological processes involving estrogen, androgen, and thyroid hormones; and include in its review pesticide chemicals, commercial chemicals, and environmental contaminants.

Most popular related searches

Related articles

The Columbia River is huge and runs past deserts, towns, major cities and numerous recreation areas. It is a major fishery, as well. So this screen had to protect and exclude fish, handle natural and urban debris, and operate in a constricted space. We designed and installed large vertical fish screens with hoods. Now the irrigation canal is clean and clear of river debris. The fish are protected and workers have a lot easier job keeping it that way.This project included:
Traveling Screen(s)
Elevator
Pump
Tra...

Nigeria is one of the largest fish consumers in the world. Since the demand of fish is increasing continuously, many farmers have started fish farming in small scale for fulfilling their daily family demands or in large scale for making more profit. Commercial fish farming in Nigeria has great opportunities. One of significant factors in fish farming is fish feed which can offer fish better digestion & absorption and better living environment. To produce fish feed, lots of fish feed machines in Nigeria are...

Vertebrate testing under REACH is discouraged and the use of alternative non‐testing approaches such as QSARs (Quantitative Structure Activity Relationships) is encouraged. However, robust QSARs predicting chronic ecotoxicity of organic compounds to fish are not available. The Ecological Structure Activity Relationships (ECOSAR) Class Program is a computerized predictive system that estimates the acute and chronic toxicity of organic compounds for several chemical classes based on their log Kow. For those...

Many structural and functional aspects of the vertebrate hypothalamic‐pituitary‐gonadal (HPG) axis are known to be highly conserved, but the relative significance of this from a toxicological perspective has received comparatively little attention. High‐quality data generated through development and validation of Tier 1 tests for the U.S. Environmenal Protection Agency Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP) offer a unique opportunity to compare responses of mammals versus fish to chemicals that may affect...

The fish bioconcentration factor (BCF), as calculated from controlled laboratory tests, is commonly used in chemical management programs to screen chemicals for bioaccumulation potential. The bioaccumulation factor (BAF), as calculated from field‐caught fish, is more ecologically relevant because it accounts for dietary, respiratory, and dermal exposures. The BCFBAF program in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Estimation Programs Interface Suite (EPI Suite v4.10) screening‐level tool includes the Arnot‐Gob...

Customer comments

No comments were found for The Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program: Where are we?. Be the first to comment!